I didn't really feel like lifting today. Didn't feel strong either. I decided to do a volume day instead of trying to hit bests on my lifts, since I didn't feel confident.

jump rope and pullups, mobility drills

Squats5@45#5@1355@1855@2355x4@285

Bench5@455@855@1255@1655x4@195

BB Row5@455@855@1255@1555x4@185

The bar felt heavy on all the reps, but I was able to do the work.

As I mentioned previously, I've put on a little extra fat (some in the gut - my pants are tighter). I think I will suspend my "just eat more" protocol and cut out the late meal I've been having. For the past few weeks I've been consistently eating a late meal, usually within an hour of going to bed. Great for bulking, but I don't really want to bulk - I'm looking for slow lean mass gain. That is what was previously going on, I guess I just got a little impatient that I was stuck at 198# for months.

Felt good today. A B-complex vitamin pill this morning certainly helped. Back into it.

jump rope and pullups, mobility drills

Squats5@45#5@1355@1855@2355@2853@340 PB8@235

Bench5@455@955@1305@1655@2053@240 PB8@165

BB Row5@455@905@1205@1555@1853@220 PB8@155then some mucking about with BB rows on the new pivot plate I recommended for my gym to purchase. It was an easy sell, given all the holes in corners from dudes jamming bars into them.

Lots of good lifts today. Instead of going for all x5 sets on the big weights that I was programmed to do, I upped the weight by 10# on squats and bench and 5# on rows and went for triples. 205# seemed heavy on bench so I was unsure about the heavy triple. Went for it anyway and I'm glad I did, it was hard but I put it up.

Was a bit off schedule and went to the gym later than usual, 2.5 hours after eating as opposed to 1.5-2 hours as normal. Felt a bit off. Depth wasn't as good as I'd have liked on the squats, but all were below parallel (barely). Felt my form break down a bit. Had a spotter for my heavy set on bench, I could feel him pulling on the bar near the top of the last two reps, so I'm not sure how I want to call it. I probably could have finished it on my own with a bit of leg drive. Lately, however, I haven't been feeling the connection to my legs to use leg drive on the heavy bench. Not sure where it went. Pissed about missing the rows so poorly, but this workout ran way too long (1.75 hours) and I was probably out of fuel by then.

I watched the EliteFTS.com "So you think you can squat" series yesterday and thought I'd mess around with my light squats today to try to notice some of the weak spots that were mentioned in the videos. First thing I did was switch the pins so that I was facing away from the mirror. This is the first time I squatted without looking into a mirror. A world of difference! Holy Crap! I've been using the mirror to check my form as I squat all this time, and I think what happened is that I lost the connection to feeling what my body is doing. I couldn't see how my knees tracked, how low I got, if the bar was centered on my back, if I kept my chest up, etc. I'll have to do it again and video it from multiple angles so that I can see how bad it really is.

Happy about the OHP. I gave it a little bump to get the bar started on the first rep, and then instinctively bumped it again on the last rep, which was a grinder. I probably could have hit that last rep strictly, but for whatever reason my body decided to bump it.

The last two reps on the deadlift set were touch and go. Not really much of a pause, but no bounce. I don't think I was ready to lift that 5th rep today. My form broke down and I pulled a lot with my back, which I could feel the strain in. Afterwards my mid back was really tight. I stretched it out pretty well, but I'll probably be sore as hell tonight/tomorrow.

On a side note, I started adding chopped parsley (frozen fresh) to my 3 large midday meals, and it has really cut down on my gas. Dorot (http://www.mydorot.com/) makes little cube trays of various herbs. Really handy for cooking. I use the garlic ones too with my lunch.

My mid-lower back is still super sore from Deadlifts on Wednesday, which made it pretty hard on my top lifts today. I should have hit the squats pretty easily, but I could barely get parallel on the third rep, and had to take a few seconds breather before it. Bench was a similar issue. My back wasn't supporting the weight like on the squats, but I could feel it when I tried to hold my arch tight and it made a difference. My core was just weak sauce today. Given the state of my back I did Dumbbell rows instead of Barbell rows today, just halving the weight I normally do for each set. 110# is the largest Dumbbell my gym has, so in the future I'll have to do 1-arm Barbell rows. I'll have to do some Physics to figure out what the moment arm is using the barbell so that I can match it up to my normal rows. I recall reading somewhere that they are better for back development than the bent-over two-hand row I'm currently doing anyway.

The gym is closed on Monday so my next lift will be on Wednesday. That gives my back plenty of time to recuperate.

Weight was a # lower than usual today. Didn't eat well over the weekend. Form was a bit loose on the squats. Thought I could hit x3 on the OHP final, but no strength for it. Tried to push press a 4th rep but failed. My goal on Deadlift was x3, which I hit. Started on #4 but it wasn't happening today. Happy about having a solid hook grip on 360# though.

I think I will switch to 5/3/1 again on Monday. My workouts are getting too long, ~1.5 hours now. I really need to keep them around 1 hour. Also, my progress is slowing down

Thanks mate! I have never used a belt for lifting. I like the idea of knowing exactly how much I can move without assistance (chalk doesn't count as assistance to me). It just means my core needs to be that much stronger!

I might have been able to grind out 1 more rep on the OHP, but I wasn't feeling strong on it today so I left it at 5. At least I hit the minimum goal. The pullups were harder than I wanted them to be. This time around, I'm going to start loading them, as opposed to just going for reps at BW. The squats wore me out. I had the strength to do the reps, but I started to fatigue. Shrugs were fine - could have done 5x5@225. All the assistance work was done with 1 minute breaks between sets, stretched to 1.5 minutes for the last two pullup and squat sets. Kept a decent heart rate throughout the assistance, 130-140 BMP.

Total workout ran a few minutes over 1 hour, with warmup and stretching, so this is a better fit with my schedule. Happy about that as well.

Today went well. Energy was good, mood was good. I feel like I should have hit one more rep on the deadlift final, but I'm happy with what I did. Hip thrust was interesting, definitely felt the glute activation while squeezing at the top. Feet-to-the-bar leg raises are tough! I've done the 90° hanging leg raises before, but this was a whole other type of hard. Couldn't even get one on the second set so I switched to knee raises of the same sort, still tough! Back raise was easy, as expected. I can definitely load that one. Kept rest on all assistance at 1 minute between sets.

After the volume sets of squats on Monday, I realized that I am definitely quad dominant. I'm going to add a bunch of posterior chain work as assistance on Deadlift and Squat days, hopefully to get my hams and glutes back in the game.

My upper arms are dead now. Happy about my lifts today, good mood and energy. I probably should have gone a little lighter on the rows. I was also shooting for 5x10 on the dips, but it wasn't going to happen. I programmed 60# for the incline press, but after one rep my arms told me I was a dumbass so I lowered the weight. Gave some kids some deadlift pointers, their form was terrible.

Thanks mate! I have never used a belt for lifting. I like the idea of knowing exactly how much I can move without assistance (chalk doesn't count as assistance to me). It just means my core needs to be that much stronger!

What we ate:Vegan Fried ChickenThe chicken actually had a fake skin on it and the drumstick shaped one had a wooden dowel rod in it! The potatoes and biscuit were OK, but the chicken with a bit of gravy was great.

Vegan Western BurgerOnion rings, fake bacon (the best I've ever had), BBQ sauce and melty/drippy vegan cheese on top of a patty. The fries were way too salty for me, but the burger was great.

Seriously, this shit is vegan and so well mimics the real thing that it's creepy.

The vegan creme brulee is crazy, you can tell that it's not made with dairy creme, but the texture is so close and it's damn tasty. The chocolate cake is super rich and will kick your ass. Those are the one's we've tried, but we've heard that all the deserts are pretty awesome.

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